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Biodiversity Act passed

after years of consultations and deferral, the Biological Diversity Act 2002 has been passed by the parliament. Besides a comment or two questioning its effectiveness, the bill sailed through the Lok Sabha with minimum debate.

On December 2, winding up the debate on the bill, Union minister for environment and forests T R Baalu made desperate attempts to defend the much panned bill. He tried to allay fears regarding the bill, such as that approval of the bill could lead to exploitation and piracy of traditional knowledge.

The unimaginative legislation will now become India's legal mainstay against biopiracy. The act proposes the setting up of a three-tier structure including an apex National Biodiversity Authority (nba) at Chennai and establishment of state biodiversity boards and biodiversity management committees. The nba will also regulate access to the diverse plant and animal genetic resources in the country.

A national biodiversity act became essential after India signed the Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd) in June 1992. The global treaty protects planet genetic resources of microbes, plants and animals. It recognises that benefits arising out of the use of a community's traditional knowledge should be shared with the people. Being part of cbd, India is obliged to devise a national legislation to provide international recognition to its sovereign rights over biodiversity.

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